


The Dreaming

by LilyofAzra



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dreams and Nightmares, Multi, The creeping chaos, maybe AU?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-07-24 03:35:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7491888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilyofAzra/pseuds/LilyofAzra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At first she thought nothing of it. Everyone dreams, and being able to summon portals at will was pretty awesome. Especially if she kept running into a magic wielding Lukas. But the lines between dreaming and reality were blurring, and the nightmares began. A Nyo!America/Norway story. With some FACE family fluff on the side. A little Lovecraft inspired. AU (Kind of)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Norge](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/213423) by LibraMoon. 



> So this is Lovecraft inspired, mostly from the Dreams in the Witch House soundtrack by HPLS that I have been listening way too much to. The pairing is Nyo!America/Norway. I thank LibraMoon for causing me to ship this pairing. Since there isn’t enough Fanfiction with it, I’ve decided to write this fic. Don’t worry, there will still be lots of America/Canada sibling interactions. And FACE family fluff. This is also posted on FF net.

“Amelia?” Lukas’ eyes widened slightly. Before he quickly chanted something, words danced like crystals in the air before circling around her. Then they glowed bright, before disappearing leaving only the breath of a chill.

“What are you doing _here_?” There was something in his gaze, something other then surprise.

What did he mean? She was dreaming, why would she be or not be in a certain place. Amelia opened her mouth to speak, before a deep rumbling shook the land, causing her to stumble.

Lukas was at her side, offering her a hand, his expression once again unreadable. Accepting, his hand was surprisingly warm, she was quickly pulled to her feet. A roar echoed from everywhere all at once, Lukas swirled so that she was behind him.

The earth shook once more, and then the mountain moved, forming a shape.

“It’s a giant yeti!” Amelia gave a whisper shout.

Lukas spared her an incredible look. Before sighing, “Troll.”

“That’s right.” She snapped her fingers. “It’s why Norway has power lines everywhere.” A bright grin spread across her face. Yep, she totally saw that movie on Netflix and everything.

“Are you a troll hunter?” Amelia whispered with a giggle.

Lukas rolled his eyes. “Quiet.”

Amelia closed her mouth. Fine, she was curious anyway. Maybe he’ll do the magic again.

He began a soft chanting, as his scroll surround the two of them. The ancient ruins glowing an ice blue as he spoke, before a circle danced around the troll’s head. The beast swayed for a moment, before turning around. Its heavy footsteps shook the ground.

“Well that was cool. I’ve never seen you do magic before.” Amelia grinned, while wiggling her fingers. “You are much better then Arthur.”

Maybe she would tell Lukas that she dreamed of him doing magic in the morning.

“But check this out.” Her eyes shone with mischief and she thought of someplace new. A crackling line solidified besides then, before opening. Lightening dancing along the edges, a frame, and golden towers gleam in the distance.

Lukas stuck a hand in the window, surprise to feel a strong wind against his palm. Pulling it back out, he stepped around the portal before standing beside Amelia once again. His eyes gave her more consideration then he ever did before.

“Isn’t cool? Let’s go exploring!” She grabbed his hand and turn back to the portal. At her touch lightning raced across the surface and the scene changed. The darkness that stretched before her was familiar.

“No.” It was a whisper, and something shifted in the deeps before launching through the portal and twisting around her. She let go of Lukas’ hand as it pulled her backwards. For a moment, she thought she heard Lukas say her name. But she focus instead on closing the portal and waking up.

_I need to wake up._

But the darkness peered back at her with a dozen eyes. A voice spoke in echoes of madness causing shivers to crawl along her spine and fear raced through her veins. It twisted around her, distorting reality. Visions dance before her eyes, faces of her people morphing and melting, before merging. She felt herself distorting along with them.

 _Wake up._ She shouted to herself. Shaking her head, she tired to dispel the image and center herself. This wasn’t _real_. However a breath of cold whisper against the back of her ear, a forgotten name.

 _Don’t look._  

* * *

She ran.

And the shame haunted her. How could she call herself a hero? If at the first sight of unknown horror, she scampered off afraid. Taking an even breath, she tried to clear her mind. _I need focus on the meeting._

But she couldn’t even remember the name of the speaker, someone from Greece.

"Is everyone in agreement?" Ludwig's voice broke through her musing.

Amelia blinked and then discreetly glanced over to what Arthur was doing across the table. His expression was blanked but his hand was raised. She raised hers as well, hopefully it wasn't too important.

"Then the meeting is over."

Oh, that was good. A yawn stole away from her; the coffee must be wearing off. She couldn’t stop rubbing her eyes; they were probably blood shot by now.

"Mia." Matthew placed a hand on her shoulder causing her to jump. Purple eyes widen in concerned. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." She gave a sunny grin. "Just tired, caught the red-eye over."

No need to mention that her nightmare had caused her to shriek on a plane full of people. The near thought of the embarrassment made her flush. She had given a weak excuse of being afraid of flying. But that wasn’t it. She had _love_ flying.

"Hmm." He pursued his lips, his brow furrowed as if he was battling with something, before he sighed. "You should have come early with me. Francis wouldn't mind hosting you as well.”

“I had a paper work.”

“Do you want to join us for dinner tonight? Arthur is going to be there and I could use help with damage control." The last sentence was spoken a little quieter, as his gaze shifted to the two arguing by the doorway.

"I'm always up for Francis' cooking. Are you sure he wouldn't mind the extra company?" She stifled another yawn, half tempted to go back to the hotel or where ever Francis booked her and just fall on the bed. "Where am I staying any way? Do you know?"

"He will be delighted." Matt smiled at her, though there was still a hint of worry in his brow. "I’ll go ask him if you can stay at his place."

Amelia blinked in surprise. Matt nudged her to walk towards the others. She hadn't stayed at Francis’ place in years; they had gotten into an argument that she could barely recalled and their relationship just hadn’t been the same.  

“Did you pay any attention to the meeting today?” Arthur immediately chastised, focusing on her instead of retorting Francis. He must have caught her subtle glance at him a moment ago.

“What?” She blinked. “Dude, I totally did.” For the first half, when the caffine has kicked in. Or maybe Feliciano was just a more entertaining speaker. His hand gestures were her favorite.

“I saw you chuckling when Feliciano accidently whapped Ludwig. He immediately offered to make him pasta for a week. But you know who could really use a personal chief?” She grinned.

“Amelia.” Arthur glared back.

“What I could have said Francis? I think he would make a great personal chief for you.” Amelia laughed, dodging Arthur’s attempt to whack her on the upside of the head.

“You ate my cooking all the time as a child.”

“I know. I’m amazed I survived too.” This time she ran through the doors, only to plow directly into one of the other members, Lukas Bondevik. Arms cartwheeling in the air, she lost her balance and fell on her bottom.

“So sorry, Lukas.” She rubbed the back of her head, knocking her glasses off center some.

“Hmm.” Dull blue eyes peered down at her. Sighing, he offered her a hand.

“Thanks.” She took it. Recalling the beginning of the dream, she had on the way over. “Hey. I had a dream like this. Well not like this not really. I mean there was rumble ‘cause of a troll, you know. You were doing an awesome magic thing and knocked the troll out cold. Pretty weird huh?”

Amelia was rambling. He probably thought she was weird. Not that she wasn’t but. That she was being weird about him. Was it odd telling people what they did her dream?

“A troll?” Lukas lifted an eyebrow.

“Yeah, it was the size of a mountain.” She spread her arms wide to emphasis the size. “And there were some runes or something floating in the air. I mean you were being pretty bad ass.”

“Thank you.” There was the beginning of a grin at the corner of his mouth.

Her smile widen in response. “I bet you are an extraordinary mage.”

That actually got a smile out of him.

“Lukas.” A white haired teen, his brother, whined, before rushing over to them to tug at his sleeve. “I’m hungry let’s go.”

“Farewell.” Lukas nodded as pull away. Considered her for a moment, before speaking again. “Let me know if you have any more dreams of fighting trolls.”

It was the most he ever said to her. “Will do.” She waved him off as he turned absently.

“Mia.” Matthew laced one arm with hers, giving her an odd look having caught the last bit of conversation. “Is that what’s haunting your dreams? Trolls?”

“No. They were new.” Her smile faded. “It’s something else.” She shivered, before shifting her arm and turning to the pair that was whispering behind them. “Let’s go eat. I’m hungry. I haven’t had Francis’ cooking in ages.”

The smile she gave was somehow less then the one before. Bright blue eyes once again shade. Dark bags once again more pronounce.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FACE family fluff and a nightmare. Then a week later, a phone call.

Amelia woke to a cold sweat; eyes wide open in the darkness. A scream still resounded in her head.

Grabbing her phone, the 3:00 am shone brightly. She used the light to guide her to the switch, and flipped on the light. Squinting, she took a moment to study the room. Cheery daisies were in the vase beside the bed, they matched the comforter that had fallen to the floor. Sliding down against the wall, she held herself.

She still felt as if something was crawling beneath her skin. Shivering, the phantom touches of something grasping her ankle lingered. She clenched her arms tighter around herself. Trying to just focus on the daisies. White sunshine daisies.

Nothing dark lurked in the unknown. Waiting for her, wanting her.

This time she hadn’t managed to go anywhere else before hand. It had started where the last dream had ended.

Then heavy footsteps echoed from the hall, and there was a crisp knock at the door.

“Mia?” Matt’s voice was soft.

Amelia had forgotten that he was a light sleeper, she must have actually screamed then. Reaching to her left, she turned the knob. He knew she was awake by now; it would be useless to pretend otherwise.

“Bad dream.” She gave as way of explanation, not even looking up at him. Instead her gaze remain fixed on the bright white flowers. The vase, she noted, matched with little daises forming a ring around the neck and a few painted like they were falling.

“Want to talk about it?” He sat beside her, the warmth was a comfort and she leaned against it.

“No.” Her gaze remained steady on the flora. However, a distant murmur of voices caught her attention. Turning, she finally faced Matthew.

“I woke them up?” Arthur, she knew, had slept through a hurricane and Francis would let nothing interrupt his beauty sleep.

“It was a loud scream.” His voice was quiet and she could almost feel his early panic. Waking to hear her shrieking, an immediate terror rose that he would be too late. She would probably react much the same, though with much more energy. Mattie was better at doing calm.

“Or maybe-“ Matthew eyed the two entering. Arthur was holding a candle-stick, the flame flickered in his green eyes. “They were still _awake_.”

Mia turned her head and gap. They were wearing matching pink silk robes with the others name embroidered on it. Sort robes, she had never wanted to see that much thigh of her father figure; it was almost as bad as that time he wore that angel outfit at her Halloween party. Now that she thought of it, he had rapidly disappeared after that… and so had a cat-eared Francis.

“You two are _together_?” Her voice squeaked on the last part, and her dream was completely forgotten. She knew they were attracted to one and another but not _together._

“You did not _know_?” Francis’ eyebrow rose, before he grumbled and glared at Matthew, who was smirking.

“Amelia.” Arthur sighed before placing a hand against her forehead. “No fever.”

“I’m not sick, Dad.” She brushed the hand away, pouting. “It was just a bad dream.”

All three of them blinked in collective surprise. Matthew was the first to recover.

“That you are still shaking from.” He placed hand against hers. And Amelia realized that they were still clammy and she was shivering.

“I like the daisies.” It wasn’t the best of conversation changers, and she turned her head back to the flowers. “There’s something heroic about daisies.”

Matt gave out a weary sigh.

“Hmm.” Francis also turned his attention to the fresh flowers, pausing to consider them. “I always thought of them as simple.”

“They are the underdog of flowers. Everyone loves an underdog.” She comment, glad that the other was shifting the conversation.

“Yes.” Francis turned his gaze to her. “I suppose they do.”

“I’ll make us a cuppa.” Arthur nodded to himself. “Especially if we are going to be up the rest of the night talking about the philosophy of flowers.”

“Ah, but you love the roses, _mon lapin._ ” Francis teased, his eyes sparkling with humor. A dusting of pink covered the Brit’s cheeks.

“Want hot cocoa?” Matthew stood at her side, offering her a hand up as well. Smiling, she took it, letting herself be dragged out of the door.

“Ah wait.” Francis turned back into the room, only to come out a moment later with the daisy bed spread and pulling it across her shoulders. “Don’t get hot chocolate on it.”

Amelia nodded, before giving a wide grin. “We should have a movie marathon. Since we are all up anyway; 3 o’clock in the morning is the best time to have them.”

“Something with heroes?” Arthur shook his head as he asked.

“And flowers?” Matthew chimed in grinning.

“With a dash of romance.” Francis joined in, before turning to her. “Do you want some explosives as well?”

“I think I know just the thing. Expect there aren’t that many daisies. It’s just in the name.” She grinned with a touch of mischief.

A dawning realization crossed Matt’s face.

“Pushing Daisies.”

Hours later, the four of them were bundled up on the couch. Amelia with her head against Matthew's shoulder, the only one left awake. Staring blankly into an empty mug as dawn's early light filtered through the blinds. The wonder of her early dreams of golden fields where she had found the first dimension rift between a pair of lone trees lingered for a moment After passing through, she had simply known how to make them. From there she could shift through worlds as she pleased, finding white towers and cities capped in gold. At one point, she had fallen through a gap, a true rift. But all that was sweet had faded to horror. A creeping chaos that had snuck upon her. One instant had become three.

What would happen if she went back to sleep?

She didn't want to know.

 

* * *

 

Her phone rang. A chirping dazzling cacophony of noises, set for only one purpose to be as annoying as possible. Scrambling, she grabbed and hit the button.

“Hello?” The word was more a yawn then anything else. Rubbing her eyes, she hit the button on top the alarm. 4:04 am shone in bright red numbers.

“Jones?” The voice was light and airy with a Scandinavian accent.

“Lukas?” She blinked once, moved her phone off her ear and actually checked the name. Yes, it was Lukas Bondevik.

“Ja.”

“You know it is freakin’ early in the morning here?” She sat up in her bed, her mind still fuzzy with sleep. He was quiet for a moment, and she could almost imagine him checking the time himself.

“That dream-“ He started out of nowhere, as if he was still trying to figure out what exactly he wanted to say. “The one that you mentioned I was in. Where I did-”

Here he paused, almost reluctant to say the next bit. “-‘an _awesome_ magic thing.’ What happened next?”

“That was a week ago.” Amelia gave as answer, though she remembered precisely what he was speaking of.

“Ja.” It was expectant.

“I don’t remember it.” She didn’t want to talk about. The mere recollection caused her to shiver.

“You do.” He gently rebuked.

“There was a troll.” The words escape her. Maybe she wouldn’t have to mention what happened later, just the fun part. “You magicked it back to sleep or something.”

“You asked if I was a troll hunter.” Was there a hint of humor coloring his voice? She couldn’t tell. A part of her wondered if he had that smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

“Yes.” Had she told him that part? Yawning, she rubbed a hand against her face.

“What happened next?” He insisted, and there was something in his tone.

“A bad dream.” And that was all she would say about it. She stared forlornly at the clock, there was no going back to sleep now. Her left hand ideally caressed the dreamcatcher around her neck, the leather worn smooth.

“Look it’s late or too early.” She gave as way of ending the conversation. Though she knew there would be no chance of going back to sleep. “I really should get back to sleep.”

There were things she had to do in the morning, but her mind was too tired to sort that out. Meetings probably, there were always meetings and paperwork.  

“Apologies for waking you.” His voice was quiet.

“No worries. I forget about time differences all the time.” She smiled a little, despite the strange call. There was nothing she enjoyed more then random friendly calls. “Though I suppose, it is about 10 am there?”

“Yes.” There was a pause, as if he wanted to say more. “Safe dreams, Amelia.” With that the call ended.

Blinking, she wondered at the way he said her name. Did he consider her a friend then? Why would he call her so early? Did he _like_ her? Was this some subtle means of flirting?

Amelia would have to ask Matt.

Their last conversation played in her mind.

_You’ll be fine, Mia._ Her brother’s voice echoed, his hand holding his dreamcatcher. _Remember_ , _this will guard your sleep._

Sighing, she brought the dreamcatcher that he had lent her a week ago. He had freaked when he heard her muttering about never sleeping again or becoming an insomniac, while she drank a fourth cup of coffee.

Bringing the dreamcatcher up to her face, she studied the pattern. They had made a pair of them together, and swapped half through making one. Mother had taught them how to do; it was one of her earliest memories. She had lost hers some time ago. A heavy disappointment and guilt weighed on her. It was the only memento they really had of a mother that had left them far too soon.

Something caught her attention; one of the threads looked like it was tearing.

She’d repair it in the morning. Too tired to really deal with it now,she should go back to sleep.

Gripping it in one hand, she curled back under the blankets and tried for sleep. In moments, she was drifting off, returning to the dream of golden fields of her youth.

An hour later, the threads snapped.

The nightmare returned.

 

* * *

 

Lukas stared at the phone in his hand. He still felt the static of the portal that had just closed. The one Amelia Jones had just disappeared through.

A week ago. In her dream.

He glanced at the hand the helped her up, the one that had grasp her hand just moments ago. She had felt real. How could someone who was- He was uncertain what exactly she was doing, but astral projection was the closet thing. Astral projections, though, didn’t feel real.

So how had he touched her?

This wasn’t what he had expected.

Lukas thought that Amelia might be a seer, one whose visions came to her in dreams. He was here only because there was one troll that matched her description. Reports in the area indicated odd tremors, confirming the suspicion.

He didn’t understand.

This was the first time in a long time that he had come across something new. Something not mentioned in the ancient text or something that his centuries of experience hadn’t lent him insight.

Amelia was supposed to magicless.

Arthur had checked both the twins. _Perhaps_ , Lucas mulled, _this ability was something entirely different then the magic that they knew._

_Yet_ , he stared at the spot where the portal was a second ago, _that_ thing _._ There was no description for it, none that he could think of at the moment. Kraken like almost. But shifting in form and shape. Darkness crawled through it. And he could still here the faint whispers that had lingered beneath Amelia’s scream. She had woken up, a week ago. Not fine, given the bags beneath her eyes, but there wasn’t an appearance of harm. And he had just spoken to her. His finger lingered on her number again. A small candid shot of her image by the number. A worry creased his brow.

Was she truly safe?

Astral projectors ran the risk of getting stuck under the certain circumstances. And whatever that was-

Scrolling down the list of contacts, he picked one.

“Good morning.” The British voice answered primly. The same one that had gone to him a few days ago about his concern for his adopted daughter.

“I was wrong.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pushing Daisies was almost Card Captor Sakura.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To those lucky few that like this story. I've chosen it for my NaNo writing project. (Not like I shouldn't be focus on writing other things. Like my job related things. Nope.) I'm also working from the mid-end to middle to other end. So...

“What do you mean by that?” Arthur tried to remember when the first in their order had freely admitted to be wrong before.

“Amelia. She isn’t a seer.”

“Then those dreams aren’t what Francis and I suspected? Then they are just nightmares?” Arthur voice echoed with a sigh of relief.

“No.”

“What do you mean no?” There was a sharp note in his voice.

So Lukas told him what happened.

Arthur promptly hung up.

* * *

“Mia.”

There were hands on her shoulders. Amelia woke up screaming, arms thrashing. The string was unraveling on the dreamcatcher. The wooden hoop was warmed to the touch. There was black slime coating the entire thing. She threw it across the room.

It spun in mid air, faster and faster as the whole thing unwound.

A clasp of thunder rattled the room and lightning struck the object, tearing through space and forming a wide crack that widen until it was the size of one of her portals. Traces of lightning danced along the edges, highlighting the darkness of within. Several pairs of red eyes glowed with in. They were moving closer towards the portal on their side, racing towards.

Matthew abruptly hauled her out of bed. The baseball bat that lay on the floor beside it was already in his hand. Before she knew it they were racing out of the room, with the door behind them slammed shut. It was only after they were out of her apartment building that her brother stopped. Swirling around and pushing the bat into her hands, he hurriedly spoke.

“Here. You’re better with this then I am. I need to call Francis.” He pulled his phone up to his ear, calling him in one motion. While his other hand grasped her still running away from the building and towards the parking lot.

Behind them, the second floor windows shattered, the ones to her apartment. Matt prevented her from turning around, instead tugging her to his white Honda.

“Get in.” He shoved her to one side of the vehicle, while he raced to the other. Phone still in hand, as he redialed the number. “Francis please pick up.”

She slid into the seat, baseball bat in her lap. Her wrist still ached, and there was a stinging pain along side her back. Finally, she turned to look at her apartment that was to their left. There were a dozen or so of the things. They were the size of a Great Dane, overall pitch black with the main body of scorpion, a set of human like arms, and a human face. Their eyes were a blazing red, the first set of them were reaching the parking lot.

The car finally started and they blazed out of the parking lot. A phone was shoved in her hand.

“Take a picture of them and send it to Francis.”

Amelia fumbled with the phone for an instant. Her hands were shaking. She took a few, knowing that half of them were blurry. She didn’t know. She had always known in the past. But now she couldn’t tell.

“Am I awake?” It was a redundant question. But Matt had never featured in her nightmares before. She had always been alone.

“Yes. Mia. Did you send it Francis?” His voice was the measured calm. The one he used to hide his panicking. The sort of desperate calm that was as fragile as spider silk.

“Yes.” She hit send on the photo. There was one of the things at the entrance to the road. Matthew ran it over without flinching. A second one jumped on the roof of the car. The pincher battered against at their roof.

Amelia unrolled the window, hosted herself up on the ledge.

Meet the eyes in that not face, so human, with grinning sharp teeth. It was smirking at her. Tail posed once again for a strike.

She gave one strong strike, and the thing cartwheeled off the vehicle. But there was the echo of faint laughter. There was a hand on her foot, and she stumbled back into her seat.

The window was back up a second later.

“It laughed.” Her hands were still shaking, and she was wearing the ducky shorts that she had fallen asleep in, and a black tank top. In her left pocket was her phone, she must have stuck it there after her call last night or was it early morning.

“Francis isn’t answering.” Matthew began cursing, mostly in French. “I was hoping he knew a safe place we could go.”

“I have my phone. I could call Arthur or…” She remembered that first dream that she had of Lukas casting sleep on the mountain troll. Amelia hit dialed before she could think better of it. “I’m calling Lukas.”

“You have his number?” Matt raised an eyebrow at her.

“It’s more like he had mine. He called me this morning. Actually, I was going to talk to you before all-” She gestured to the dozen of creatures chasing after them. They were surprisingly fast. “of that happened. I mean I have seen them before-”

She took a sharp in take of breath, listening to the continually ringing of the phone.

“I’m awake, right?”

“As far as I can tell.” Matt speed the vehicle up, taking a turn way too fast.

“Hallo?” The voice was crisp and clear.  
A moment of uncertainty flashed through her. Placing one hand over the mic, she turned to Matt.

“What am I suppose to say?”

“Just tell him what happened.” Matt was giving her a little smirk.

“Amelia?” Was there a note of concern in his voice?

“Remember how I had that troll dream?”

“Yes.” She could almost see him nodding to himself.

“Matt and I are being chased by giant scorpions with people’s faces. Do you have by chance any magic that could make them go away, like the troll?”

There was a long pause after that with the gentle whisper of paper rustling. Then a voice shouted somewhere in the distance from the other end. Lukas said one word but she had no idea what it meant.

“Hey Arthur is visiting Lukas.” She grinned at Matt, before her eyes widen. “Turn left now.”

The car almost skidded for a moment, black tire streaks left behind. The five or so of those monsters gave chase. However another five were in fronted of them, clinging to the side of the buildings.

“Shit!” Matt cursed.

“I have an idea.” She thought of the place that she wanted to be. A flicker of light cracked through to the left of Matthew. “See you soon Lukas.”

The portal formed. Just as the creatures were on top of them, she shoved Matt through the portal. A second later a shooting pain raced through her right thigh as she stumbled after him.

* * *

_See you soon._ Lukas stood where they had just met that morning. Amelia had already appeared here once before, and it was possible she would end up here again.

He had been able to identify the scorpion creatures, the aqrabuamelu. The only way to destroy them was to burn them. He sent Francis and Emil to deal with it. Emil had a gift for fire base magic.

Francis could track for any sign of either twin.

What if Amelia was hurt? The text hadn’t mention a treatment if there was any injury. It was more of the extremely deadly; kill on sight type of tome.

The phone wasn’t even ringing at this point. There was no signal for her phone. He had left Arthur scrying for Amelia. But it wouldn’t work. He knew that. She simple wasn’t here. His feet had worn a trail in the dirt.

She had portal jumped. What if they were taken?

Taken by that _thing_?

Had they ran from one monster only to end up in the place that all of them had come from? That turning darkness. The image still stretched in his mind, roaring and sweltering. Constantly changing, shifting. A black tendril clasped tight pulling her back into the unknown.  
  
How had she managed to escape?

To her that was a dream. One she could wake up from. Now? She was controlling them when awake. The danger had gain that much of a foothold in reality.

“You’re not going to do any good wearing a hole in the earth.” Emil’s voice surprised him. The little puffin was at his shoulder again. Needling through strains of Emil’s white hair, in an attempt to groom it.

“Hmm.” What was he suppose to do?

“I’m getting hungry and would greatly like to prevent Arthur from attempting to cook. I asked him to make some tea.” He shifted the bird away, as he jumped back in the driver side of the jeep.

“Francis has worked on trying to track both of their phones. Matthew has an international phone plan. If they make it back, that phone should pop up on the locator.”

Lukas climbed into the vehicle after him. Trying not to linger on the word if. The dream had happened a week ago for her, and today for him. Having her just appeared behind him, the mountain troll rising. In the distance, he could see the mountain sleeping.

A week between incidents, but that was only for her. It was today; both attacks had taken place on the same day. Whatever it was that was going after her. Was it because she had stumbled upon them? Woken up the sleeping realm? She was switching between realities and time at will. With out, he thought bemusedly, noticing she was doing it. Still it might be best to have a contingency plan. Incase, they were trapped somewhere and not just lost in time.

He had the whole order at his whelm. This might become a pressing enough issue that they would request another meeting. Especially since the aqrabuamelu hadn’t been seen for over a thousand years.

They were not prepared for those long forgotten horrors to return.

The thought struck.

What if they had been _stung_?


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They were stung.

 “Please close.” Ignoring the throbbing pain from her thigh, she willed the tear that she made to neat back together. It would take about thirty seconds for it to shift. She didn’t even want to deal with that realm. But if it closed first, then they had a chance.

 With a resounding pop, the portal closed.

 “Success.” Amelia grinned to the sky as she plopped on the ground. Before the pain in her leg once again shot through, and the echoed of pain from her back resounded. The adrenaline was fading.

 Cradling her leg to her chest, she let out a stream of curses, most varying around so form or derivative of fuck. Her phone lay forgotten to her side. The call had dropped any way.

 Her twin echoed her cursing. Though he was cradling the opposite leg, pulling up tan pants to reveal a nasty red welt that had black in the center. In addition, black veins were creeping in all direction

 Matthew’s phone rang. With a grunt of pain, he muttered. “Now he calls back.”

 “Francis, why couldn’t you have answer 30 minutes ago?” His voice was pinched, annoyance in full force.

 “Mathieu?” A brief mutter of thanks echoed after that. “Are you alright? Both of you?”

 Amelia gave a pathetic wave at Matt, when he turned to her. His eyes immediately fell onto the stung.

 “We’ve been stung by whatever the hell those things were.”

 “Where are you?”

 “We’re somewhere.” He turned to look around, only to jostle the calf. Biting his lip, he muffled the curse.

 “Trolls.” Amelia gave a shout, her face scrunch up. Tears were shimmering in her eyes.

 Matt didn’t think he looked much better, but translated for Francis. “Lukas should know. It’s where Amelia ran into him.”

 “Looks like our First was right. Emil will be out to pick you up in a moment. We’ll send Yao with him.”

 “Okay.” He breathed out through the pain, eying the huddle ball that was his sister. “There’re black veins from the wound.” Each word was muffled by a faint curse.

 “Hold out for 30 minutes.” There was a hesitation. “We managed to kill those _aqrabuamelu_.”

 “What?” Matt tried to focus around the pain, putting the phone on speaker for Amelia’s benefit as well.

 “The scorpion monsters. We killed them. --- we, --- myself and Emil. Frankly --- seen -- infestation -- bad. -- checked Amelia’s ----- trashed. ---- no sign of a --- Lukas ---looking for. ---, portals? Teleportation spells, ---. But what --- describing…” Matt could probably only make out half of the words.

 “Francis.” Matt sighed, but his mentor was already on a rant, at the same time doing Matt did his best to evaluate his leg. What was he supposed to do? He caught Arthur’s name a few time. Along with his own and Amelia’s. He tried to focus on the voice, to set aside the pain, but it was getting harder and harder to think.

 Amelia could barely hear Franci’s voice through the phone. She felt the pain running up her leg. Nausea was setting in and her head was throbbing. Her whole body felt like it was aching, and there was a stinging pain in her back.

  _Don’t think about what caused that._ It was hard to think at all. Instead, she simply lost herself to the haze of pain. Merely feeling, she was too tired to try anything else.

 The rumble of jeep shook her back to awareness, that and Francis shouting. Matt stirred as well. Mumbling to Francis that he saw the jeep, and they weren’t dead yet.

 “Matthew.” Emil skidded the jeep to a stop, as both he and Yao leapt out. Matt and Mia had never seen Yao, but his skills as healer were renown. The man gave each twin a moment consideration before heading towards Amelia.

 Emil knelt beside Matt’s right leg studying the black veins that had made its way to upper thigh.

 Yao gentle turned Mia so that wounded leg was up while she was on her side. The motion caused her head to spin.

 “Nope.” A moment later, she was heaving to the left of Yao, barely having missed him. Eventually it abated and she settled into a sitting position with her leg evaluated. It throbbed, pain shooting up through her joints.

 He was completely undisturbed, merely opening a case that had a dozen compartments. Her black tank top had ridden up, and she could see black lines spreading across her stomach. The rest were creeping down her leg.

 It was almost pretty.

 Yao placed a cool hand against her forward, before making a tsking noise and opening a dozen more tiny boxes. He aliquot a fine green powder with a tiny spoon into a small cup. The spoon was super cute; it had an engraved kitty on the top.

 She reached for it, but her hand was battered away.

 Without pausing, he mixed a silver translucent powder into another cup. To both he added some sort of glowing water.

 The green liquid he held up to her lips.

 “Drink.” The command was the only thing he said.

 Glancing at Emil, he was Lukas’ brother. If he trusted this person then… Even if he didn’t, well, this stranger wasn’t the worse thing she faced today.

 She drank all of it one gulp. Instantly the pain stopped. Even the stinging from her back and the soreness that was in her wrist. The ones that she had forgotten about. She didn’t even feel as he painted the silver liquid over the sting, and crushed something dark green onto that.

 But wow. This stuff was great.

 “Mattie.” She tugged at her brother’s sleeve, as Yao handed off the same light green drink to Emil. It glowed. “This stuff is great.”

 Emil helped Matthew to drink it.

 He blinked at her for a moment. Before he was grinning at her equally. “Look.”

 Nudging her side, he brought her attention back to Yao. Who had finished muttering something, and placed a hand on either side of wound. The Chinese characters he had written on her skin glowed, as did the black welt.

 Amelia clapped her hands in delight, turning to her brother. “He did the magic!”

 “You did the magic!” She exclaimed, before embracing the man after he finished. “That’s amazing.”

 “Lukas’ll be jealous.” Emil laughed, an amused smile had settled on his face when the two had started to act loopy because of the medicine.

 “Lukas?” Amelia attention jumped to Emil, before trying to walk to Emil. Her leg wobbled and she fell onto her twin. Matt grunted and shifted out from Amelia towards Yao.

 Yao just sighed, before turning his attention to Matthew.

 “You like him.” Matthew spoke in a sing-song voice, a sill grin on his face. “You have his number and everything.”

 “He’s the one that called me! So he must like me too. Right? That’s how it works if they call you in the middle of the night?”

 “He called you in the middle of the night?” Emil echoed.

 “Well, it was more like the morning for him. ‘Cause of time change in all that. It was this morning. I think…” It was getting hard to tell. She had been lost in that nightmare for so long that the phone call had seemed like an eternity ago. (Picking up her phone, she pulled up the call.)

 “Huh? The date is wrong.”

 “Matthew, it was the 27th right?”

 “Yeah.”

 “It’s okay.” Emil broke up their concern as Yao packed his bag. “Lukas guessed it, and he even suspected the place.”

 Though he remembered the late nights, they had spent scouring through books. It wasn’t that his brother was frantic. He just had a very determine methodically air about him. The fact that Lukas was basing his expectation on one experience and Arthur’s constant worries hadn’t perturbed, went unmentioned.

 It was evening of the seventh day and Lukas had finally given in and gone to the library in Sweden. In case, he had missed something.

 “A week?” For some reason that was inexplicability funny, Amelia started to giggle.

 “I got us here. Woohoo. Go me. I’m such a hero.” She tossed an arm around both Matt and Emil; all three on them were sitting together on the ground. “I didn’t get us lost in a terrifying abyss. We’re in Norway. Where,” and here she lowered her voice, “there are trolls.”

 Matt just laughed in return. He was the one that watched the movie with her after all.

 “We should head back.” Yao was eyeing the clouds hanging over the mountain that was also a troll. “Wouldn’t want to wake anything.”

 “Just help me with these two.” Emil helped Amelia stand before doing the same with Matthew.

 “Don’t put weight on your injury. Try to keep it elevated.” Yao fussed as he took over help Amelia into the jeep. Once, she was settled with the seat belt on in the back he fussed. “Foot up.”

 Emil had just settled Matt in as well.

 “Mattie.” Amelia poked her twin’s side. “Guess what? We’re in a jeep!”

 Matt just laughed with her in return. “Mia. Guess what? We aren’t dead!”

 They both broke out in giggles.

 “How long does this last?” Emil turned the keys on as Yao clambered into the passenger seat.

 “Dose is stronger than normal. Some people are more sensitive. Good thing the roof is up.” Yao gave a small smile. “Shouldn’t be more then a few hours.”

 It was ten minutes in the trip, before the two started to sing Hakuna Matata. Loudly and off key. Emil passed his phone to Yao so that they could record it. Halfway during the third iteration, Lukas called.

 “You have them?” He sounded out of breath.

 “Yes.” The two had abruptly moved on to Circle of Life.

 “Are they singing?” There was a noise of disbelief.

 “Yao gave a heavy dosage of pain medicine.”

“Ah.” A pause as the twins hit the chorus. “They were stung? Both of them?”

 “Yes. We patched them up, but any other effects will have to be watched for. This is the first our order has seen of the scorpion monsters in centuries. It worked out that we had a week to look up the treatment.” Emil lowered his voice. It went without saying that without that time they wouldn’t have had a clue, and if the poison reached any major organs…

“How far are you?”

“We’ll be at the lodge in a few minutes.” Emil took a turn up a dirt road. The lodge was nestled a little up the mountain, having a prefect view of the lake on his right. The setting sun glimmered off of the water, catching gentle ripples.

The phone was cut off.

“How are the stings?” Emil lowered his voice.

Yao turned around to look at Matt’s calf, which was propped up on the seat. “Hmm. The lines had stopped spreading. Needs watching.”

* * *

Lukas was standing by the door when they arrived. He was at Emil’s side of the car in seconds.

Amelia gave a sharp squeal and flung her door open. Swing one foot on the ground, she moved to step out but the injured leg gave out, completely numbed by the medicine. 

Lukas barely caught her. She had one foot balancing on the ground. A moment later, he picked her up, one arm under both legs, and the other supporting her back.

“You,” There was a slight half smile on his face, as he adjusted her against him. “need to work on your definition of see you soon.”

“It was soon for me.” She crossed her arms and pouted.

“I want to be carried!” Matt half shouted as he tumbled out of the jeep. Yao had one of Matt’s arms around his shoulder, trying to give some support.

“You’ve too much hockey to be carried.” Amelia teased back, completely distracted now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've been mostly working on the ending of the story. But I'll work my ways back eventually.


End file.
